Disclaimer: The boys and the girls aren't mine, but Valerie and her madness are.

Key – A line denotes change in POV

-denotes thoughts or inner speech-

Chapter 13

Overlap

The streets were long and fine, tapering like the end of a song that you wish would keep going. I could feel the dawn growing nearer; it was biting at my consciousness like a drug, like the sunshine was going to wash everything away. I needed that, just like that coffee had helped wash away my drowsiness earlier.

"Nearly four," I said just so I had something to say.

I had to get to the airport. I needed to get to America. I needed to find him, the one who had been plaguing my existence as soon as I had helped turn him into what he now was.

"I've found you," I had to say it to make it real, "I'm sure I've found you."

"I really doubt Heero would have appreciated it Maxwell," Wufei did his best to console me, "you and I accompanying him on his first mission."

"Hell I know that," I muttered, again throwing the small red bouncy ball against the wall and catching it, throwing it and catching it, anything to stop my irrational worrying.

Heero was off on his mission with the rookie...the very important daughter-of-a-councillor rookie. I felt kinda, well, sick to put it honestly. I wasn't really sure what was going to happen, yet I seemed to be the only one worried. Guess that was because I was the only one who had been in close contact with him since he had gotten back; the only one to notice...

"They should be reporting in at 1500 hours," Wufei continued to type up some report or other while trying to ignore the incessant thump of my frustrations, "and that should hopefully calm you down. Or I'll have to do that myself..." he added dryly.

"Heh, sorry Wufei," I caught the small ball one last time before setting it down into the table and seating myself at my desk, if not still rather rigidly.

Why was I so worried?

I had set out this morning full of confidence. I needed that at least right?

The sun was shinning through a cloudless sky down onto the baked earth of industrial estate. I felt the chunks of granite and rock crumbling beneath the wheels of the four by four I was driving. The jolts made me think back to my Gundam, wishing Zero's suspension system could have been installed in this rust bucket.

She was sitting beside me, her window open blowing her hair from her face. She was smiling and happy, just like the day we were driving through; it was a stark contrast to the stormily indifferent mask I was wearing.

"Where should we start?" She asked suddenly, looking at me as I started looking round for a place to stop.

"Where it tells us to," I replied monotonously.

"Oh, right," she nodded shyly and looked back out of her window.

For a big car it responded smoothly, I'll give it that. I admired the slick movements as it slipped in between two huge warehouses, hidden by their huge walls towering above.

She got out first, stepping onto the dry earth making it puff up small gasps of dust. This place was desolate.

"Well, let's start with number one then," she said as she adjusted her cap to stop the sun glaring into her eyes.

I just nodded and checked my data pad. It was very hot, no shelter once we stepped out from the shadow of the warehouses. I felt unnaturally vulnerable, like I was being watched, as we walked over the seemingly vast gap between the huge warehouses. I didn't like it, yet the ray of sunshine walking at my side didn't even seem to notice it.

Maybe I was being paranoid; yet after everything I'd experienced recently I doubted I was.

We continued to walk.

"Still not back," I mumble under my breath, trying not to make myself worry anymore than I needed to.

But I did, because I did need to. I needed to worry, about Heero, about his partner. I always needed to worry. Well things go wrong, don't they? Things you can't do anything about; and because you can't do anything, you feel better that at least you worried, at least you thought about it, devoted the smallest amount of time to the memory of those that were lost. Wait, wait, wait, rewind, no-one was lost, I couldn't think like that.

-Not ever...Heero...never lose you again...never.-

So this is when the obsession starts is it? When, yet again, I can't stop thinking about him. Again. Damn it Heero why do you have to do this to me? I can't take this all over again...I can't look after you; I can't look out for you, not all the time.

"Here's your coffee sir," the young office hand beamed, holding out the life giving liquid like a holy grail.

"Thanks," I nodded lethargically, taking the steaming cup in both hands.

"They'll be back soon," Wufei nodded to me from behind his laptop, reassuring till the end.

"Sure," I replied before tenuously sipping my coffee, savouring the bitter flavour, "thanks Wufei."

"Quatre?"

The voice seemed far away and small, like a mouse at the other end of a room.

"Quatre, wake up."

I was asleep? I didn't remember that.

"Wha..?" I muttered as I lifted my head from the comfy pillow I had made of my arms.

I was in my office again...that was right, I had been working on...something. Oh well, I really had been overworking myself lately.

"You really need to slow down with the work."

And I obviously wasn't the only one who'd noticed. I looked up with bleary eyes to focus on the slight form of Trowa standing in the doorway. He was dressed in casual black trousers and his with Preventers work T-Shirt. The look in his eyes was amused, even if his smile was barely noticeable.

"Heh, yes, you could say that," I laughed a little and tried not to blush as he smiled in full but dipped his head to hide it, "what time is it?"

"Almost three," Trowa said softly, leaning against the doorway and letting his hand rest on his hip as he watched me.

I just fussed with my sleep rumpled hair and tried to focus on anything other than the fact that he was staring at me. It was...disconcerting...I think.

"Well, then I think it's time for some late lunch don't you?" I said with a yawn, stretching and standing, leaving my computer to hum in the background as I walked towards my friend.

"Yes, I was just sent to call you," he admitted.

"Ah, mission accomplished then?"

"Aa," he said with a mock authoritative nod.

"Then let's accomplish another one," I smiled and patted my stomach, "I'm starving."

I was being watched, I knew it, I knew it! We had split up, Sunshine and I, and now I could feel those grubby eyes on me again...where, where are you, you little maggot?

"I know you're there," I growled out at last, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end as I turned to face the doorway I had just come through.

I was in a small office room with a dilapidated table and chairs and filling cabinets littering the confined space. There were dirty slits of light spinning their way through the cobwebs and death of the room, fighting against the dust that threatened to overwhelm them. I just stared at the loose door, hanging off its hinges, waiting for the figure that was watching me to emerge.

It never did.

A spider descended into my vision as I kept my eyes locked to the dirty rectangle the doorway was, spindly legs wrapping around its slim silk rope.

"Heero?" the sudden voice in my ear made me jump, sending the small spider scurrying and the dust into chaotic clouds; I just chocked out my do...you...ack...want?" I spluttered angrily, not caring about the timidity of her answer.

"Umm, it's just, well," she stammered a little before regaining her composure, "I wondered if you could...maybe..."

"What?" I growled menacingly.

"...Help me patrol warehouse 3?" she finished softly.

"Why," I asked succinctly, not even waiting for a polite pause.

"Well, uhh, it's just that I," I didn't interrupt her here, thinking it much more enjoyable to listen to her suffer, "I...can't reach the ladder release, to get me to the second floor. It's...too high."

Ha, short ass. Reminded me of someone else I knew, although he wouldn't have been so timid in asking for help, he would have just demanded it.

"Fine, wait there," I said exasperatedly, stalking off out of the office room, that feeling of eyes on my back growing with every step.

"Coffee, coffee cofeeeee," I sang under my breath as ripples floated across the now cold brown liquid before me.

I was bored.

"Looks like shit but tastes just loveleeeee," I improvised, rather ingeniously if I don't say so myself.

I was bored and I was worried.

"If you don't drink you must be crazeee..." I began to dance my fingers along the tale top as I sang, kicking the rather bemused coffee cup with my middle finger.

"Haven't you got some work to do or something?" Wufei growled at me, not even bothering to look up as he typed furiously.

"Probably," I sighed, kicking my little kinetic ornament next before turning back to the now abused coffee again.

"Well, could you maybe think about doing some then?" he said exasperatedly, finally gracing me with a glare.

I was bored and I was worried and I was lazy.

The office seemed to become darer with the passing hours, even though the windows were small and the lighting very bright. I think Une decided to up the voltage in our office just because she'd caught me napping a couple of times, perfectly innocently. Yeah, so it was kind of florescent in our little home, but yet still dark, I could swear it was.

"Do you think they'll check in soon?" I mumbled into my arms as I watched the little tapping silver balls swing back in their magnetic prison.

"Yes," came the succinct reply.

I sighed. For some reason I wasn't so sure about that. Wufei could be very optimistic at times, well when it suited him; like now it was suiting him because it shut me up. Any other time I'm sure that he would profess doom and gloom and all that jazz, I know what he's like. I stood up and opened the windows, twirling the little blinds so that the sunlight outside washed in and defused the ionised air. I felt the breeze on my face and was glad for the freshness it brought, clearing my mind, even if it didn't wash away the worry.

Dammit Yuy.

Couldn't stop thinking about him.

I shivered, yet the afternoon air was warm and soothing. I could have sworn, no...was someone watching me?

"There," it was all I could say as I released the third ladder.

Her face was bright red; she could have easily supplied heat for the entire of Osaka. I tried not to smile, my earlier feelings of dread and darkness slipping away...thankfully. I felt like a deep veil had been lifted from my eyes and I...liked it. It made me feel free. I liked that...and I could think of another person who would like that too.

"You should be more free Heero, more like me for a change!"

"Not for all the Gundanium in the world," was my only reply, surprising Duo more with the fact that I had replied to him for once rather than the fact that I had made a joke.

"Spoilsport," he mumbled, frowning and kicking at the ground, "no wonder I wanted to kill you before."

Would it...make him smile? I hadn't seen him smile I so long. Well, I hadn't seen him in so long I guess, but still; he looked like he hadn't smiled in a long time. I think this would make him laugh. I think that, but then...what did it mean. Me making him smile...what did it mean?

For all the time I had when wandering, all that time to think and dream that I wasted, just when I get to the important stuff something interrupts me. Gunfire, however, wasn't exactly what I had been expecting.

Then it's always the moment of calm when things go wrong, those are the moments you have to be wary of. I guess that's why I never let my guard down, never relax, really ever let anyone near me. Those are always the times when everything goes wrong and your whole world falls apart, just when you thought you had pulled it back together. When the red light on my comm started blinking, I almost didn't notice it. When I get distracted I get careless, and this was one of those times. It was a good thing Wufei was there to notice for me, that my phone was flashing, and that it was an emergency.

"Duo!" he hissed, "kyuukan!"

"Huh? Oh shit!"

I almost dropped my stupid cold coffee as I fumbled with the small phone, missing buttons in my hurry. Finally one fumbling digit landed on "call" and I held it up to my ear expectantly.

"Maxwell," I said as professionally as I could.

"Special agent Maxwell?" a slightly panicked voice said on the other end.

"Yes," I sighed, -didn't I just say that?-, "speaking."

"It's Agent Yuy, you were on his contact sheet," the voice started but was quickly interrupted by me.

"What!? What's happened," I must have sounded much too panicked, or the coloured drained from my face because Wufei, whom it takes a lot to surprise and doesn't usually react badly to anything, was in front of my desk in one second flat.

"Quatre, are you alright?"

"Huh?"

You know, even though I was staring off into space like I hadn't slept in days and was acting completely strangely, I couldn't help that think that Trowa actually starting two conversations with me in the space of one day was much odder.

"Yes, I'm fine," I nodded absently, playing with the half eaten food sitting in front of me.

Even though I had been the one to suggest something to eat, I had suddenly run out of appetite half way though eating. I just felt like, well, a little sick I suppose. Trowa had finished long ago but seemed content to sit and watch me fiddle with my salad. The sun was warring with the clouds in the sky; storms seemed to be brewing in the air before my very eyes. Such a contrast to this morning's fair weather, I thought.

"It was an ambush, the group from L4, a revenge bombing, suicide we think..."

"You're babbling!" I warned.

"Agent Jaden has first degree burns, nothing serious."

"And Yuy?" I could see Wufei's eyes narrow at the worry in my voice.

"I feel cold, I think I'm going to go back inside," I said suddenly, pushing my plate away and standing.

Trowa gave me a quizzical look, his visible green eye shining with concern.

"Cold?" he asked.

"...Yes," I said after a slight hesitation, "I just need to get back inside, I'll be fine."

He nodded to that. That's my Trowa, never one to argue...yet, for once I wish he would have just pushed me that little bit further. I would have told him what was really troubling me, I would have. It was like a shadow had swept over my heart; cliché I know, yet it's true. Something was wrong.

Someone was watching me.

"His condition is critical," the voice panicked, "he's been shot twice, once in the chest, second..." but he never finished, or if he did I didn't hear it. The phone dropped numb from my fingers and I could feel my chest tighten, tears stinging at my eyes like wasps.

"No..." was all I could choke out before I heard Wufei run through the door, his footsteps echoing down the corridor like distant thunder.

AN: Ah the beginning of the violence...mwoohahaha! Okay, please R&R and tell me what you think -

Ps: I'm sorry this took sooooooooo looooooong, if anyone was actually waiting then do forgive my lazy ass! I think I was concentrating on my Weiss Kreuz fic too much (no excuse I know0 but then I had a brainstorm for this story, yay! So please don't be mad or I'll cry I mean it! Ha ha, made you think tee hee. Okay it's late and I'm mad, goodnight all!